Blackface Minstrelsy: Alive and Ill
I begin my course on the Social History of Popular Music with a unit on blackface minstrelsy—a 19th century form of entertainment in which white performers with blackened faces parodied their perceptions of African American culture. Students are usually shocked to learn that this practice constituted part of the foundation of US popular music. The class ends with a discussion of the degree to which images of minstrelsy can still be found in our popular culture. Well, I am here to report that minstrelsy is still alive and ill. In the past few of weeks a couple of dramatic instances of the use of blackface have surfaced in the media.
In early October 2009, the Austrailian TV talent show Hey Hey It’s Saturday Reunion presented a Michael Jackson tribute act called the Jackson Jive, who performed in blackface. Taken aback, judge Harry Connick Jr. gave the group a “0.” “If they turned up looking like that in the United States,” said Connick, “Hey, hey, there’s no more show.” Ironically, the same group had appeared on the same show 20 years earlier doing the same performance and won! Here is their performance:
The October 2009 issue of French Vogue, which is dedicated to “supermodels,” reportedly used no black models and, adding insult to injury, model Lara Stone appears in a 14-page spread in blackface. Here’s one shot by photographer Steven Klein:
Tags: black, blackface, minstrelsy, race, racism
Categories:
Issues
